TMCnet News
Jungle Theater co-founder Bain Boehlke announces July 2015 retirement [Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. :: ](Saint Paul Pioneer Press (MN) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) July 22--Some will call Jungle Theater founder Bain Boehlke's plan to retire next year a blow, but Boehlke says he prepared for this with every show he has ever done. "I have a lot of experience with deeply connecting with other people and then going, with joining and leave-taking," said Boehlke, an Ivey Award lifetime achievement recipient who has directed, designed and acted in dozens of Jungle shows. "When you enter the rehearsal of a play, you become so deeply involved with these collaborators but, as a director, you have to leave, to release, and let the audience take your place. That's a great discipline to learn: to not to get too blue or too lonely about that. It's an amazing journey and we do it over and over again." The Warroad native announced his retirement plans to the Jungle board of directors Monday night and will remain artistic director until July 1, through about half of the theater's 25th season. He is not sure about the next phase of his amazing journey but he's excited about it. "I think the first year, after July comes, I'll take it easy and see how I feel," said Boehlke, who will become artistic director emeritus at the Jungle. Depending on how the theater develops under his successor, Boehlke said he may work there occasionally but he also has some non-Jungle ideas that involve bringing theater to the streets and parks. And he's not sure if he will stay in the Twin Cities or move, possibly to Seattle. With George Sutton and Tracy McClun, Boehlke co-founded the theater in a 100-seat storefront in 1991, with the help of a $35,000 loan from the Minneapolis Community Development Agency. It grew into one of the Twin Cities' premiere theaters, now located a block away from its original space in a venue with 150 seats. "When we came here, the (Lake and Lyndale) neighborhood was drug-infested. It was a place you drove through. You didn't stop," said Boehlke, who previously was with Children's Theatre Company for 13 seasons. "Twenty-five years later, there are restaurants all around the neighborhood and high rises and people everywhere, living and having fun." Talk of succession has been in the air for a few years, says Boehlke, who turns 75 on Wednesday, but the change is coming at the perfect time, with the Jungle in a good place both financially and artistically and with a new marquee about to go up to reflect on the outside a number of physical improvements that have been made inside. As he thinks about departing "from the Jungle but not from theater," Boehlke says he is proudest that the Jungle has remained an intimate place for audiences and artisans to create theater together and that he's going out at the top of his game during "a mature changing of the guard," as he calls it. "I have no fear. It feels so right, so strong," Boehlke said. "It's amazing. I didn't think it would be like this. I thought it would be difficult but I'm finding that I do go through moments of regret, but then they go right away and I feel great." Chris Hewitt can be reached at 651-228-5552. Follow him on twitter.com/ ChrisHMovie. ___ (c)2014 the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.) Visit the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.) at www.twincities.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |